Tobacco hand opener



Feb. 20, 1962 A. L. ISLEY 3,021,848

TOBACCO HAND OPENER Filed Dec. 8, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 x m|||r||| III I uumm 1 A L, Q 2 HHFIIIHIII Hlllllll gall IN V EN TOR.

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TOBACCO HAND OPENER Filed Dec. 8, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. flrfherlllsl y BY jgi orney.

3,021,848 TOBAC HAND OPENER Arther L. Isley, 6312 Hanover Ava, Richmond, Va. Filed Dec. 8, 1958, Ser. No. 778,677 Claims. (13]. 131-130) In my prior Patent No. 2,881,768, dated April 14, 1959, I have disclosed a machine for stemming tobacco, consisting basically of a stemming drum and a stripping drum. The two drums are preferably of the same diameter and are journaled in the frame of the machine with their axes horizontally coplanar and related at an obtuse angle. The two drums are connected for synchronous rotation and rotate in respective planes related at an acute angle. They are so positioned that their peripheries are closely adjacent at a point which may be in the horizontal plane common to the drum axes. Two belts are guided over and about the top halves of the peripheries of the drums, as fully explained in the above-identified patent and also in my Patent No. 2,557,540, issued June 19, 1951. Feeding means are provided to feed tobacco leaves to the drums at the aforementioned point, where the stems are gripped to the stemming drum while the leaf portions are held to the stripping-drum. Thus as the drums separate in rotation past said point the stems are pulled from the leaves and pass around with the stemming drum until released at the forward side thereof. Likewise the leaf portions pass about with the stripping drum until released at the forward side.

The feeding mechanism in my prior patents includes a wide belt having a run over the planar top of a feed table. The tobacco as received for stemming is in the form of bunches or hands each consisting of a number of leaves with their stems bound together by a tie leaf of tobacco wrapped around them. The operator severed the tie leaf and then loosely spread the leaves of each hand of tobacco on the feed belt with their stems contiguous one edge of the belt. After passing off the forward end of the belt the leaves were picked up by a system of belts conveying them to the aforesaid stemming and stripping drums. The peripheral speed of this system of belts is much greater than that of the feed belt so that the leaves are separated in their passage to and about the drums.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a feed mechanism for a stemming machine of the type aforesaid which automatically severs the tie leaves, opens the hands of tobacco and feeds the leaves thereof to the drums.

A further object is to provide a mechanism which may be in the nature of an attachment to existing stemming machines, or constructed as an integral component part of new machines, and which automatically severs the tie leaf of each hand of tobacco, then feeds the separated leaves to the stemming and stripping drums.

A still further object is to effectively speed up tobacco stemming machines of the type aforesaid, to reduce the labor costs in the operation of such machines, to increase the capacity per unit time of such machines and to provide a general advance over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view from the front of a machine embodying the invention and looking down and rearwardly, essential parts of the tobacco stemming machine as disclosed in my aforesaid prior Patent No.

2,881,768 being shown in dot-dash lines.

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view to an enlarged scale, looking from the left of FIGURE 1 and showing the opener mechanism and feed belts, parts being omitted for clarity of illustration.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view to a scale enlarged over FIGURE 1, showing the cutter bar and opener assembly and their mounting to the frame of the machine.

States atent' 'Q 3,021,848 Patented Feb. 20, 1962 FIGURE 4 is a plan view partly in section, of the opener gears, their shaft, and its mounting in the frame.

FIGURE 5 is a partial perspective view of a form of cutter or opener gear using knife blades, and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken in a plane identified by line 6-6, FIGURE 5.

In the foregoing figures, those parts of the stemming machine disclosed in my aforesaid Patent No. 2,881,768, are identified by the same reference numerals as in said last-mentioned patent.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the frame of the machine includes a heavy vertical steel plate 1, FIGURES 3 and 4. A feed table 13, FIGURE 2, is carried by brackets, not shown, on the forward surface of the plate and an endless feed belt 11 has its upper pass arranged over and adjacent table 13 and is supported thereby when loaded with hands of tobacco. The belt 11 passes about a pulley or roller 14 journaled at its inner end in a bearing, not shown, rigidly fixed to the plate 1.

As best shown upon FIGURE 4, a shaft is journaled in a bushing 101 fixed in frame 1 and has a V-belt drive pulley 1112 fixed to its end projecting to the rear side of the frame. Next to frame 1 at the other side thereof, an opener gear 103 is fixed to the shaft as by set screw 1114. This gear may conveniently be of conventional form and have about sixty teeth and a tooth length of two and one-half inches.

A V-belt idler pulley 1115, FIGURE 1, is journaled on shaft 100 and held against axial movement by collar 106. Two other gears 107 and 1118 are fixed in adjustable spaced relation on and along shaft 100. As explained subsequently more in detail, the purpose of these two gears is to pass the central and tip portions of the hands of tobacco to the stemming machine at the same speed as gear 1113 and to assist in the separation of the leaves thereof. Gears 107 and 1118, while of the same diameter as gear 103, may have a shorter tooth length, say A to 1 inch.

A heavy steel angle bar 109 is secured at one end, as by welding, to a mounting plate 110 which is adjustably secured to frame plate 1 by a pivot bolt 111. Bar 109 is provided with a series of holes 112 along one side to adjustably secure thereto, angle brackets 113, 114 and 115. From FIGURE 3 it is noted that one arm of each bracket has a vertical slot such as 116 for bracket 113 whereby each may be secured by a respective bolt such as 117, in a selected hole 112 and in a desired position of vertical adjustment.

Each of the aforesaid brackets has a respective one of three toothed opener or knife elements 118, 119 and welded or otherwise rigidly attached to its arm extending normally to bar 109. Thus, referring particularly to FlGURE 2, element 118 may consist of a flat rectangular plate having an arcuate cut-out 121 with its edge serrated to form teeth 122. The element is fixed with its plane normal to the length of bar 109 and its cut-out is so formed and positioned that the center thereof is eccentric to or offset from the axis of shaft 103. Since each cutter element is coplanar with its gear, the two define a space of gradually diminishing dimensions in the direction of travel of the hands of tobacco. The pivot bolt 111 provides a mounting which enables this dimension to be varied to suit conditions of use. While the opener elements 119 and 120 fixed opposite and operating in cooperation with gears 107 and 1138, respectively, are of the same rectangular dimensions as element 118, they may be of thinner stock to correspond with the shorter tooth length of these gears, as previously explained. It will thus be clear that gears 107 and 108 together with their knives 119 and 120, may be adjustably secured along the axis of shaft 100' to suit various conditions of use such as tobacco hands of different lengths.

As in my prior patents, a wide belt l, FIGURES 1 and 2, passes about a rearward tightener pulley 8, upwardly about pulley 9, thence downwardly and forwardly about pulley and upwardly to and about the upper half of the stripping drum 2.

V-belt 25 passes about idler 105 on shaft 104), downwardly and forwardly in tangential relation with a V-belt pulley 123 fixed to shaft 9a, thence to an idler 26 on shaft 16:: mounting pulley 10, thence upwardly and forwardly to and about idler 25a, downwardly and rearwardly about an idler 25b and back to idler 105. As in my aforesaid patents, idler 25a is mounted in tangential relation with the main stripping drum and with its axis parallel with and approximately in the horizontal plane of the axis of said drum.

Pulley 123 is journalcd in a bracket, not shown, carried by frame 1, by which it is mounted closely adjacent to idler 105 and tangential to the run of belt 25 between idlers 165 and 26. V-belt 35 passes downwardly and rearwardly about idler 123 and thence in back-toback relation with belt 25, about idler 26 and upwardly and forwardly about an idler 124 closely adjacent idler 25a, as clearly shown upon FIGURE 1. Belt 30 then passes upwardly and rearwardly about an idler 125 and back to idler 123. Belts 25 and 39 are thus in cond the lower end as the parts are viewed upon FIGURES 2 and 3.

With the machine in operation, the attendant keeps feed belt 11 loaded with hands of tobacco by placing them thereon transversely side-by-side with their tied stem ends against a gaging or positioning surface which may conveniently be the vertical surface of frame 1. When so positioned each hand is located so that the tie leaf thereof passes between opener elements 103 and 118. As each hand passes off the delivery end of the feed belt 11 it is picked up by gear 183. Due to the diminishing dimensions between this gear and opener knife or element 118, and also to the fact that element 118 is fixed and motionless while gear 103 is rotating, the tie leaf is effectively cut or sheared to thereby free the individual leaves of the hand and to disperse them slightly.

As the leaves pass from between gear 103 and opener knife or element 118, they are picked up at their stern ends between belts and 39, while their leaf portions rest upon wide belt 4 in its run from pulley 9 to pulley 10 and moving at the same linear speed; and since this speed is much greater than that of gear 1&3, the leaves 'tinuous back-to-back contact from the point at which belt 25 passes beneath idler 123 until they separate at idlers 25a and 124 at the drum 2. For clarity of illustration this drum is indicated by dot-dash lines only upon FIGURE 1. Idler 125 is journaled on a bracket 128 adjustably mounted upon frame 1 of the machine so that the belt may be maintained tight.

Cardcloth belt 34, FIGURE 1, is mounted in substantially the same position and manner as in my aforesaid patents. This belt passes downwardly from an idler, not shown, to and about an idler 26a on shaft 10a and next to idler 26. Idler 26a is of the same diameter as pulley 10. From 26a, belt 34 passes upwardly and forwardly in parallel side-by-side relation with belts 4, 25 and 39, to and about the inner periphery of the upper half of drum 2.

Shaft 10%} and its drive pulley 192 have been described. Shaft 9a to which pulley d is fixed, extends through the frame plate 1 and has a pulley 126 fixed to its end in coplanar relation with pulley 162. A V-belt 12'? connects pulleys 1&2 and 126. The diameter of pulley 126 is less than that of pulley 102 so that the gear openers 1G3, 107 and 108 have a peripheral speed approximately the same as the linear speed of feed belt 11. The ratio of the linear speed of belt 11 and the peripheral speed of gears 163, 107 and 168, on the one hand, and the linear speed of belts 4, 25, etc. on the other hand, may be from 1:8 to 1:15.

In my prior patents I used pulley 9 as a driver and rotated it by a motor connected thereto by a system of speed reducing belts and pulleys. While this drive is very satisfactory in operation I now prefer a simpler drive, not shown, consisting of a small friction wheel on the shaft of the motor and in driving contact with the periphery of the stemming drum. The drive thus extends from the stemming drum to the stripping drum and thence to belt 4, pulley 9, belt 127 and shaft 100.

In FIGURES 5 and 6 I have disclosed a modified form of gear 103a in which a number of teeth thereof, say every third tooth, has its end slotted as at 129 to receive a flat knife blade 130 held in place by a pair of set screws 131 in a manner obvious from inspection of the drawing. Each knife projects about inch above the end of its tooth to assist in shearing or cutting the tie leaves as they pass about the gear. A knife blade, not shown, similar to blade 130 .in all respects and held in position in the same way, may also be provided in one tooth of opener element 118, say the third one from are effectively separated. As the leaves go beneath pulley 10, the ends of the stems pass into contact with and beneath narrow cardcloth belt 34 and sumultaneously the leaf portions pass between belt 4 and a somewhat narrower belt 32 positioned and operating as in my aforesaid prior patents. In this position the leaves pass upwardly to stripping drum 2, with their stems gripped between belts 25 and 30. As these belts separate in their passes about idlers 25a and 124 respectively, cardcloth belt 34 begins its travel about drum 2, in contact with a cardcloth facing about the inner peripheral edge thereof. At the same time the stems are picked up between the periphery of the stemming drum and a cooperating gripping belt guided into contact therewith at this point. As the peripheries of the stripping and stemming drums separate in their synchronous rotation, the stems are pulled from the leaves.

Passage of the leaves through the opener mechanism is assisted by gears 1-37, 198 and their cooperating blades 119 and 120. The provision for adjustment of these elements transversely of the direction of travel enables them to be adjusted into the most effective and satisfactory positions, as desired.

The opener thus disclosed enables a material reduction in the labor formerly required to manually sever the tie leaves of the hands of tobacco and to keep feed belt 13 loaded. it also enables the entire machine to be speeded up and its capacity per unit time to be materially increased.

Having now fully disclosed the invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an opener for hands of tobacco leaves, a frame, a shaft journaled at one end in said frame, a plurality of toothed gear elements fixed on said shaft in adjustably spaced positions therealong, a bar, means mounting said bar over and parallel with said shaft for adjustment about an axis parallel with said shaft, a plurality of cutter elements, means fixing each said cutter element to said bar for adjustment therealong and toward and from said shaft, each said cutter element being coplanar with a respective one of said gear elements and having a plurality of teeth arranged in arcuately concave sequence, the distance between the teeth of each said gear element and .those of its cutter element progressively decreasing in the operating direction of rotation of said shaft, and means translating hands of tobacco leaves between said gear elements and said cutter elements, in parallel with said shaft.

2. The combination with a tobacco stemming machine having a stripping drum, a feed belt having a horizontal run, a pulley journaled adiacent and in parallel with the delivery end of said run, a drum belt passing about said pulley and extending to and about the stripping drum,

of a rotatable shaft interposed between said delivery end and pulley in parallel therewith, a gear opener fixed on said shaft, an opener element having a concave arcuate toothed edge fixed in coplanar position eccentrically about said gear, and means driving said belts and shaft in predetermined timed relation.

3. in a tobacco stemming machine having a stripping drum, a feed belt,.'a pulley journaled for rotation adjacent the delivery end of said feed belt parallel therewith, and a drum belt passing about said pulley and extending to and about the stripping drum, a shaft journaled for rotation between said delivery end and said drum belt, a plurality of gears adjustably fixed on said shaft in spaced positions therealong, a bar fixed above said shaft and adjustable about an axis parallel therewith, and a plurality of opener elements fixed to said bar, each said opener element being coplanar with a respective gear and having a concave arcuate toothed edge extending in eccentric relation about its gear, the distances between each arcuate edge and its gears progressively decreasing in the direction of operating rotation of said shaft, and driving connections actuating said belts and shaft in timed relation.

4. A tobacco stemming machine as in claim 3, and means mounting each said opener element on said bar for adjustment longitudinally thereof and toward and from said shaft.

5. In a tobacco stemming machine, a frame, first and second pulleys journaled in said frame in spaced parallel relation, a stripping drum, a drum belt passing about said first pulley, downwardly beneath and about said second pulley and upwardly over and about said drum, feeding means having a delivery end adjacent said first pulley, a

shaft journaled in said frame between the delivery end of said feeding means and first pulley, a gear element fixed on said shaft at one end thereof, an opener element having a concave arcuate toothed edge and fixed to said frame with said edge extending in eccentric relation about said gear element and coplanar therewith, a first idler journaled on said shaft next to said gear element, a second idler journaled coaxially with said second pulley at one end thereof, a third idler journaled on said frame with its periphery tangential to said drum, 8. first feed belt extending about said first idler, beneath said second idler and about said third idler to provide runs thereof parallel with said drum belt along an edge thereof, a second feed belt, means guiding said second feed belt in back-to-back relation with said first feed belt in its runs from said first to said third idlers, and a driving connection between said first pulley and said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

